Fifth and sixth class students from Vicarstown National School, Cork along with their teacher, Áine O'Shaughnessy, were today named overall winners of the Our World Irish Aid Awards 2015 at the national final held in Dublin Castle. The students picked up top prize for their project, which explored the issues facing children in the developing world. 2015

Now in its 10th year, the Our World Irish Aid Awards are designed to help children in Ireland understand global issues, and Ireland’s role in working to meet the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These goals focus on fighting hunger and poverty and improving the lives of those in the world’s poorest countries.

At the national final awards ceremony, the Vicarstown National School students were one of 12 schools exhibiting their projects in Dublin Castle. Commenting on the student’s project the judges said: “The Vicarstown student’s project, Our World In Our Hands, was very impressive and demonstrated a lot learning. The 'Frozen' storybook they created to engage with the younger pupils in the school was really engaging and helped to tell the story of how life in the developing world differs from life in Ireland.”

The students were presented with the ‘Our World Irish Aid Awards’ trophy by Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Charlie Flanagan TD, and the current Rose of Tralee Maria Walsh.

Speaking at the national final, Minister Flanagan said: “The Our World Irish Aid Awards give pupils from all over Ireland a great opportunity to gain insight in to the lives of children in the developing world and convey their understanding through projects which are both creative and educational.

“Great progress has been made in meeting the eight Millennium Development goals since they were agreed in 2000. Working with our partners in developing countries and at the UN and EU, Ireland has contributed to this progress, which has included halving the number of people living in poverty, reducing malnutrition and dramatically increasing the number of children at school. While we must redouble our efforts in the years ahead, we can all be proud of these achievements.

“I was really impressed with the standard of the projects exhibited at the national final. All of the students should be extremely proud of their achievements. Vicarstown National School, Cork, are well deserved national winners, it was clear that they put a lot of work into their project. A special word of congratulations has to go to St. Patrick's National School, Glencullen who received the inaugural Our World Irish Aid Award of Distinction for their project.”

Over 1,000 primary schools throughout Ireland participated in the Our World Irish Aid Awards to date. All entries were assessed on their creativity, understanding of the theme and their impact. 60 projects that illustrated strengths across these three areas received an ‘Our World Irish Aid Awards’ plaque at the regional awards ceremonies in May, and 12 of the top entries won a place at the final awards ceremony in June.

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